twenty one pilots' Tyler Joseph reveals that the duo's "colourful" new era "is supposed to represent the unleashing of an imagination".
To coincide with the release of their addictive new single Shy Away and the announcement of upcoming sixth album Scaled And Icy, twenty one pilots' Tyler Joseph has lifted the lid on what this new chapter all means.
Speaking with Jack Saunders on Radio 1's Future Sounds, the frontman explains that the duo's new album is "more colourful" than previous releases, with Scaled And Icy's album cover in particular representing "the power of creativity, the power of imagination".
"If you’ve noticed with some of our previous releases there’s always a bigger story to everything that’s being created, and this record particularly is more colourful than other records – literally more colourful, and hopefully sonically as well," Tyler tells Jack (transcribed by Kerrang!).
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"That colour is supposed to represent the unleashing of an imagination. You know, I have this theory that, even if you’re confined to one small room, if you were to focus on one singular detail of that room, that detail can then come to life. Actually, I have this little dragon totem figurine that I’ve been staring at, and my theory is that if I can get to a place where I’m looking at him and I’m creating something, and all of a sudden he can grow and actually fly around the room, and then where I am I can actually transport it to a completely different place… It really is the power of creativity, the power of imagination, and, ultimately, the power of music.”
With Shy Away having a more upbeat and uplifting feel, Jack asks about the lyricism of album number six, and if it's all coming from a more positive headspace.
"As you move about your life, you imagine that you start to answer more and more questions," the frontman responds. "Inevitably there’s going to be a time where I have no more to say, and I’ve always wondered when that’s gonna be. And, all of a sudden, I began to be inspired by something else – whether it’s my daughter now.
"In the song Shy Away, in the very beginning – if you were to replay the very beginning part – you’ll hear this little baby cooing noise, and it’s actually because when I was first working on the song, she was in the room with me and I had my phone out just singing something into a voice memo. So I’m still finding things to be inspired by, and I’m really excited that that fire isn’t going down yet."
Scaled And Icy is due out on May 21 via Fueled By Ramen
The Scaled And Icy tracklist is as follows:
1. Good Day
2. Choker
3. Shy Away
4. The Outside
5. Saturday
6. Never Take It
7. Mulberry Street
8. Formidable
9. Bounce Man
10. No Chances
11. Redecorate
And the album artwork looks like this:
twenty one pilots’ global livestream event happens on the same day as Scaled And Icy’s album release, broadcasting on May 21 from 8pm ET / 1am BST. It will “mark the live debut of new material from Scaled And Icy”, as well as featuring plenty of career-spanning hits. Get your tickets here.
